If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the national media, it’s that they don’t see themselves as a part of our democracy. They see themselves as the dictators of it.
The Washington Post’s Perry Bacon Jr. (yes, that’s a real name) wrote Wednesday that it’s necessary for leftist media to recalibrate in the post-Trump years. But not in any sense of understanding what happened during Trump’s tenure, nor why he retains a devoted base of supporters making up nearly half of the country.
No, Bacon says: Instead, the national press should be more upfront that their mission is less about relaying information and more about protecting voters from themselves.
“The media can’t credibly go back to posturing as disinterested or neutral — nor should it if Trump and Trumpism remain threats to democracy,” wrote Bacon. “It needs to chart a new path forward for a United States with a Trumpian Republican Party.”
Bacon’s recommendations include a statement of “transparency” that big news organizations “should play a power-balancing role” and that they be “overtly democracy-defending.”